Female founders of the payment provider in an interview

Ms. Wohlfarth, as a successful founder you are an absolute exception…
Wohlfarth: Unfortunately yes. The percentage of female founders in Germany is very low in absolute terms and, above all, in an international comparison. We have to change that. That’s why we wrote the book. I want to show that you can be normal, lead a normal life and still found and lead very successfully. There has to be more courage involved.

Do you see yourself as a role model?
Pütz: We certainly won’t stand up and say that we are role models. But we notice that a lot of people look at what we do. I recently had another applicant who had already worked successfully in a number of fintechs and then specifically chose Ratepay because she no longer wanted to join this boys’ club. She wanted to be in a team led by women.

Is it even more important for women than for men to have role models?
Wohlfarth: Yes. Because there have been very few role models for women in the business environment. That is changing now. In addition, women are often more conformist, more perfectionistic, more risk-averse than men, and rarely take crooked paths. To be braver here, they need role models. It is important to create corresponding images in your head. You can’t be what you can’t see.

Who are or were your role models? In your book you cite the philosopher Hannah Arendt for her courage and foresight, the Strüngmann investors for their willingness to take risks, the publisher Brigitte Mohn for their innovative spirit and the entrepreneur Elon Musk for his clarity…
Wohlfarth: They are great personalities, but they weren’t role models for me. My first role model was much more approachable, namely my aunt. I grew up in the absolute province, lived in the city, traveled a lot and had a more open view. Later it was my boss, who wasn’t super smart at all, but quite normal. And he still managed to found. That gave me courage that I can do it too.

Pütz: It helps when you have many different people who you think are great for different things. I’m an absolute fan of Hillary Clinton. I saw her the day that email affair broke out. How openly and professionally she dealt with it was very impressive. Another role model for me was a boss at Ebay, who was incredibly authentic.

What impressed you about her?
Pütz: She showed feelings. Towards the evening she called her husband in the main room and told him in front of all of us how her day was going. And then it sounded like this: “I’m fast and everyone, come home soon… Can you please run me a bath?”

Wohlfarth: I thought that was great with my boss back then. He was honest when he was scared, insecure or uncomfortable about something. I took that as my guiding principle. If you say how you are doing, you are much more at eye level with the employees, then there is a much greater team spirit behind it.

So a good entrepreneur has to be authentic, honest, show weaknesses… What else?
Pütz: Exactly. Nobody is perfect, there is not one boss who knows everything. Of course, it also has to deliver results. We live in a performance culture.

You let experts speak for pages in your book. Why do they do that? Aren’t you experts yourself, rich in experience enough?
Pütz: We are both generalists. We can do everything and nothing. We have therefore brought in additional luminaries for the individual areas for the individual chapters.

Isn’t this bringing in experts, sorry, typical woman? Isn’t that showing too much weakness?
Pütz: This is how leadership works. As the boss, I don’t know everything. And I shouldn’t give that appearance either. I have my teams, my experts, and I have to trust them in everyday business. On this basis, I gain perspective and then need the courage to make decisions.

And then mistakes happen… Which ones happened to you?
Pütz: I really enjoy my work and I’ve never had a Sunday depression, i.e. I’m afraid of the week or don’t feel like Monday. But not many people are that lucky. However, I have already assumed that of other people – and then overwhelmed employees. Then they quit.

Wohlfarth: I once restructured my teams according to the latest textbook and that led to total frustration. I should have trusted my gut feeling and left everything as it was.

When and how have you doubted yourself in your career? Were there critical moments?
Pütz: I constantly doubt myself and my performance. But it only became fundamental once: I was supposed to throw out the best people in a restructuring because they were the most expensive. I couldn’t take moral responsibility for that. I then looked for a conflict with the owners – and found it, and then I was out myself.

Wohlfarth: There are days when I would rather stay in bed… I’ve had many such phases in the last 13 years of my founding – when we as a founding team broke up, for example. It became fundamental for me twelve years ago when a malignant tumor was found. It was all about functioning and responsibility for other people. In such a situation you ask yourself, especially if you have a child: is it all worth it? Everyone has to constantly find the answer to this question themselves.

And it was obviously worth it to you…
Pütz: I was very lucky that everything turned out well for me. I had a lot of support during that time and was still able to do a lot. If I hadn’t had that, I probably would have had to make a decision for or against my career. I’m very grateful that despite the setbacks, everything came together.

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What is your advice for prospective founders?
Wohlfarth: If you have an idea, just do it. what have you got to lose Failure is now more accepted in Germany too. Don’t found it alone, do it in a team, you need someone for the numbers, but don’t forget the sales skills and get started. Set yourself a realistic goal. Draws a summary after about a year. Of course, a small financial cushion helps in this initial period. And: If you are thinking about having children, make sure you have the right partner. Education is not a woman’s job, it should be a parent’s job.

Ms. Pütz, you have not founded a company before. Why not?
Pütz: I haven’t had any good ideas so far. Maybe my corporate career was going too well. But I already regret not founding it. Maybe that’s why I’m so excited in my current role at Ratepay, a start-up and scale-up.

In your book you write about the “privilege of founding”. You could surround yourself with likeable, enthusiastic employees. This means that founding a company or entrepreneurship is actually the ideal form for women with families. So why do so few women do it?
Wohlfarth: The social acceptance of women working full-time is still too low. Marriage splitting has to change, there have to be many structural framework conditions that change. Childcare must be completely tax deductible or, even better, free of charge. A lot of people don’t see how to do it all.

As you write in your book, you yourself were never discriminated against. Didn’t you experience any disadvantages by being women?
Puetz: Yes. But I was in a positive bubble. On Ebay, where I practically grew up professionally, that never played a major role. But even in that environment I once had a boss who had the issue. That’s why I actively changed positions and I advise everyone: Better leave in such a situation and don’t try to wait it out.

Are you in favor of the women’s quota because of such experiences?
Wohlfarth: Unfortunately, time has shown that without a quota, not enough is done.

Pütz: We need a critical mass of women in the management floors, otherwise nothing will change.

What do you think of gender? Important or superfluous?
Wohlfarth: Important and necessary. Personally, I still have a hard time with this, but it is good for our society. We should do it for our children because it is important that people dare to say when they are different. So it’s worth the effort.

Pütz: The book has made it a bit more natural. There was no question that we would change.

Do you give your children the book to read?
Wohlfarth: Yes, of course. My daughter got one of the first copies.

Pütz: My boys are still too young. They will definitely read it later.

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